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Publishing Organization

The Wallace Foundation / Knowledge Center / Hours of Opportunity: Lessons from Five Cities on Building Systems to Improve After-School, Summer, and Other Out-of-School-Time Programs (Volumes I, II and III)

This major report finds real promise—and challenges—in Wallace-supported efforts in five cities that aim to increase access to, and improve the quality of, afterschool programming by coordinating the work of such institutions as schools, parks and nonprofits. Volume I surveys factors that help and hinder these efforts. Volume II examines the use of data systems in Wallace-supported and other efforts. And Volume III profiles the five ventures. The chief insight is RAND’s finding of a “proof of principle” that the various organizations and institutions within a city with a hand in afterschool programming can work together to coordinate services. Another important finding is that this coordination can succeed in boosting access to programs (four cities of the five in the study increased the number of students served) and spur efforts to improve their quality.

The report also finds that the introduction of a management information system (MIS) was not subject to major pushback from program providers. The majority agreed that their city’s MIS provided valuable information and reported use of that information in a number of ways. It is important to note, however, that providers that were required to use more than one MIS were significantly less likely to find their city’s MIS useful. Moreover, providers and agencies were more likely to use an MIS that was customized to meet their specific needs.

Points of Interest

Cities large and small can launch afterschool systems, and these systems have the potential to work; i.e., give children and teens a better shot at filling their spare time with enrichment and learning rather than idleness and risk.